The invention concerns motorised turbines intended for the production of a continuous flow of air and more particularly the turbines equipping respiratory assistance devices.
These respiratory assistance devices can be provided for treating sleep apnoea disorders.
Patients suffering from these disorders are liable, during their sleeping time, to pass through phases of apnoea during which they stop breathing, thus causing them to wake up.
To remedy these disorders, there exist devices comprising a respiratory mask applied over the nose and/or mouth of a user while he is asleep, and a case supplying pressurised air to this mask so as to prevent the user entering an apnoea phase.
In order to supply the pressurised air to the respiratory mask, the known respiratory assistance devices generally propose to deliver a continuous flow, regulated or not, of air by means of a turbine driven rotationally by an electric motor. This air flow is conveyed by a tube into the mask which furthermore comprises a calibrated leakage aperture, the desired pressurisation thus being maintained.
For example, the patent FR 2 663 547 describes such a device.
This document refers to an installation for continuous supply of respiratory gas pressurisation comprising a respiratory mask with calibrated aperture and a pressurised gas supply unit connected by a tube to the mask.
Within the pressurised gas supply unit, a centrifugal type turbine operated by an electric motor is provided for generating a discharge of air.
These devices of the prior art have a drawback as regards their size.
This is because a respiratory assistance device is intended, the majority of the time, for use at home. It must therefore be easily transportable and not very bulky in order to be placed at the foot of the bed of the patient or on a bedside table.
Earlier devices, with the passing of time, have been made increasingly compact following technological development. Nevertheless, it would seem that a limit has currently been reached as regards respiratory assistance devices comprising a conventional arrangement of their elements, as described in the aforementioned patent.
This is due partly to the fact that the motor/turbine assembly occupies a large space in the pressurised gas supply unit through its two-part structure.